Two weeks after northeastern Japan was struck by a massive earthquake and tsunami, the cost of the disaster is becoming clearer. The Japanese government has estimated the direct damage at as much as $310 billion, making it the world’s costliest-ever natural disaster. As of today, more than 10,000 deaths have been confirmed and another 17,000 people remain missing. At Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, it raised suspicions of a possible breach when two workers waded into water 10,000 times more radioactive than normal and suffered skin burns. Earthquake survivors return to their homes to collect what they can find, to mourn their losses, and try to find a sense of normalcy in lives that have been ripped apart. Collected here are recent images from northeastern Japan, 14 days after it was rocked by disaster on a historic scale. [46 photos]

A bereaved family member of a victim of the earthquake and tsunami prays in front of a coffin at a temporary mass grave site in Higashi-Matsushima, in Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan March 24, 2011. (Reuters/Yuriko Nakao)

PATRICK BAZ/AFP/Getty Images A Libyan rebel poses next to a destroyed government tank March 26 in Ajdabiya

Summary

As the rebels fail to advance on Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s strongholds in the western part of the country, allied powers enforcing the no-fly zone have increasingly floated the idea of providing the opposition fighters with weapons. Arming a rebel force can help level the playing field or nudge a conflict toward a certain conclusion, but taken alone, supplying arms cannot fix the fundamental problems that cause a force to be militarily inept.

AJDABIYAH, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan rebels fled in headlong retreat from the superior arms and tactics of Muammar Gaddafi’s troops on Wednesday, exposing the insurgents’ weakness without Western air strikes to tip the scales in their favor.

It had taken more than five days of allied bombardment to destroy government tanks and artillery in the strategic town of Ajdabiyah before rebels rushed in and chased Gaddafi’s troops 300 km (200 miles) west in a two-day dash along the coast.

Two days later the rebels have been pushed back to close to where they started.

The Libyan army first ambushed the chaotic caravan of volunteers, supporters and bystanders outside Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte, then outflanked them through the desert, a maneuver requiring the sort of discipline the rag-tag rebels lack.

The towns of Nawfaliyah, Bin Jawad and Ras Lanuf fell in quick succession to the lightning government counter-strike. Rebels showed no signs of trying to hold on to the next town, Brega, but carried on toward Ajdabiyah, where some regrouped.

Dozens of pick-up trucks mounted with machineguns milled around the western gate of Ajdabiyah. Confusion reigned.

Last week, The Blaze posted two audio recordings of Stephen Lerner, an SEIU boss who was lecturing an audience on how to bring down the American economy. While Lerner had reportedly been fired from the SEIU last year, it turns out that that may not have been the case.

During the audio, Lerner was introduced as being “of SEIU.” Moreover, former ACORN founder, Chief Organizer of ACORN, and all-around community organizing SEIU offical, Wade Rathke stated Friday on his blog:

Lerner has not been “fired” by SEIU as they report. He was placed on paid leave last fall to think through his contribution to the union, but was certainly present at the recent international executive board meeting. He’s in a curious position no doubt, but it’s something like being an “injured reserve” in the NFL and waiting for the team to find a place to bring him back on the roster.

Then, just to affirm that Lerner is still affiliated with the SEIU is Lerner’s bio on a piece posted this afternoon which reads:

Stephen Lernerserves on the Service Employees International Union’s International Executive Board and is the architect of the Justice for Janitors campaign. Lerner is a frequent contributor on national television and radio programsand has published numerous articles charting a path for a 21st-century labor movement.

Everyone in Washington knows how to cut spending. The time to start is now.

Americans have built the single greatest nation in all of human history. But America’s exceptionalism was not preordained. Every generation has had to confront and solve serious challenges and, because they did, each has left the next better off. Until now.

Our generation’s greatest challenge is an economy that isn’t growing, alongside a national debt that is. If we fail to confront this, our children will be the first Americans ever to inherit a country worse off than the one their parents were given.

Current federal policies make it harder for job creators to start and grow businesses. Taxes on individuals are complicated and set to rise in less than two years. Corporate taxes will soon be the highest in the industrialized world. Federal agencies torment job creators with an endless string of rules and regulations.

Sen. Charles Schumer speaks to reporters about budget negotiations March 2 on Capitol Hill in Washington.

The Capitol Hill rhetoric reached new levels of ugliness Tuesday as negotiations over some semblance of a federal budget gave way to finger-pointing, with Democrats blaming Tea Party freshmen for a potential government shutdown and Republicans calling those claims a fantasy.

Over the past few days, Democrats have pounded the argument that Congress would have been able to work out a budget deal long ago if not for the extreme demands of Tea Party-aligned lawmakers.Congress has until April 8, the expiration date for the current short-term budget, to craft either another

WASHINGTON (AP) — There may be less than meets the eye to President Barack Obama’s statements Monday night that NATO is taking over from the U.S. in Libya and that U.S. action is limited to defending people under attack there by Moammar Gadhafi’s forces.

In transferring command and control to NATO, the U.S. is turning the reins over to an organization dominated by the U.S., both militarily and politically. In essence, the U.S. runs the show that is taking over running the show.

And the rapid advance of rebels in recent days strongly suggests they are not merely benefiting from military aid in a defensive crouch, but rather using the multinational force in some fashion — coordinated or not — to advance an offensive.

Here is a look at some of Obama’s assertions in his address to the nation Monday, and how they compare with the facts: